VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Terry Keemer never thought he’d miss the chance to say goodbye.
“I always thought my siblings would bury me, not me bury my siblings," Keemer told 13News Now.
Keemer's younger brother, Kevin Jones, died Monday, Aug. 21 of a medical emergency at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center (VBCC).
According to officials with the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office (VBSO), jail and medical staff performed CPR on Jones after being alerted he was unresponsive just after 4 a.m.
'It's sad and unfair': Family concerned about jail conditions
According to Keemer, Jones lived with a heart condition and was concerned about the level of treatment rendered to his brother inside the jail.
“If he didn’t have his medicine, if you bring someone in off the street and they have a heart problem and they tell you they’ve got a heart problem, you’re supposed to be equipped and prepared to deal with them and their situation," Keemer said.
Jones was taken into custody on August 20, on an outstanding misdemeanor charge of failure to appear before a court, for a previously scheduled hearing earlier this August. While court documents show Jones secured a $1,500 bail, he died before a scheduled arraignment hearing Monday morning.
"That’s what heart wrenching to think about, how much my brother suffered before he died. Being locked up with nobody to call nobody to go to," Keemer said.
Jones' death, according to VBSO's public record-keeping, marks the seventh medical-related death since 2020. That includes incidents of medical emergencies or care at a local hospital.
It also comes two days before Fred Smith Jr., an inmate booked on a felony charge of assault on a law enforcement officer, was found unresponsive in his cell after committing suicide, per VBSO officials.
Smith's death marks the fifth suicide at the VBCC since 2020, according to archived releases. According to Reuters' Dying Inside series, VBCC saw just one suicide between the years 2009 to 2019.
The closeness of Jones' death, and Smith's reported suicide, leads Keemer to worry about the conditions of the jail inside.
"It's sad and unfair my brother died like this," Keemer said.
Virginia’s Board of Local and Regional Jails is reviewing these two deaths, as it does with all inmate deaths at correctional facilities in its jurisdiction. The VBLRJ's Executive Director told 13News Now the VBCC alerted them of the two deaths in a timely manner.
The VBSO declined an interview request for this story.